The improvement of student engaged time leads to improved instruction and greater academic achievement. Major steps for improving instruction by improving student engaged time are information collection, comparison of information and identification of strategies, selection and preparation of strategies, and implementation and re-evaluation. This…

The extreme variability of the 50 projects under the NIE Program to Increase the Participation of Minorities and Women in Educational Research and Development necessitates an evaluation design that is flexible enough to accomodate significant differences in project characteristics, yet comprehensive enough to allow meaningful aggregation of…

Generalizability theory is described and applied to data collection methods for student ratings of instruction. Three generalizability coefficients (generalizing over both students and items, generalizing over students only, and generalizing over items only) are defined, and the appropriateness of each for various purposes is discussed.…

The cross-levels hypothesis is presented as an explanation for program evaluation failures. It states that the usefulness of evaluation data as feedback for decision making varies inversely with the number of organizational levels between the action the data describe, and the decisions they are intended to influence. To be useful for decision…

Data collection and recordkeeping are the topics discussed in this instructional aid. Examples are given of creative ways of recordkeeping developed by children. Justification for the process is presented, such as the kinds of skills that can be developed by keeping science records. The evaluation of childrens' work is discussed and suggestions…

In this booklet describing purposes and guidelines for use of the Continuing Education Unit (CEU), the Council on the CEU sets forth the case for the Unit's use and flexibility. Defined as ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction,…

Based on the procedures, materials, and resources used in "A Study of the Feasibility of Vocational Modules", this manual is one of the products of the study. Since guidelines for feasibility studies in the areas of public services that relate to human behavior are not clearly defined, it is hoped that this manual will guide, support,…

The failure of educational research to fully allow for limitations in methodology when drawing conclusions is faulted. In addition to this, a failure on the part of the media--educational and other--to fully publicize these limitations is also criticized. Methodological shortcomings of the 1977-78 American Institutes of Research (AIR) study of…

In the late 1960's, educators and researchers became concerned with the dropout problem in large urban school districts. In Philadelphia, the Division of Pupil Personnel and Counseling (PPC) is responsible for collection of this data and reports this information to the state. The process has been computerized to cope with the large volume of data.…

A description of the background and procedure of this pilot study precedes the data charts and sample forms that make up the majority of the report. Questionnaires gathered information from 304 representative schools on languages studied, grades in which they were studied, and number of credits earned, for each student. Schools are classified by…

The difficulties in evaluating bilingual education appear to have prevented success in all but a few evaluation attempts, but better and more meaningful evaluation is neccessary in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of bilingual programs. Many bilingual programs are undergoing constant modification, adequate assessment instruments have…

Background material on the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP's) annual survey of faculty salary data is summarized. It is pointed out that in 1976, AAUP decided to depend on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for data collection because both organizations had worked closely for many years, it eliminated…

The programed text is designed to provide tumor registrars with a means of learning the procedures for abstracting charts of cancer patients and for carrying out the other functions of a tumor registry. It was developed as an adjunct to on-the-job training for use without direct instructor supervision. Directions and suggestions for using the…

A new system for assessing student ratings of instruction has been implemented at the University of Washington. Two major changes are in evidence. First, there is an explicit recognition that student ratings can and do serve multiple functions, and the same evaluative questions are not necessarily appropriate for each. Secondly, there is an…

Development of a typology for linguistic situations has been a continuing concern of sociolinguistic research. Thus far, however, typological studies have served primarily to demonstrate the difficulties involved in such an undertaking rather than producing results of obvious utility. With few exceptions, notably Greenberg 1956 and Pool 1972,…